"Die-hard joggers now have a new worry. If they're anything like running-addicted mice, they may want to ease off their training regimen to stay sharp. Even though running makes mice sprout new neurons, running compulsively makes them slower learners."

"Can running make you stupider? A team of scientists in California and Wisconsin have shown that if you're an exercise nut—and if you're anything like a mouse—adding more neurons to your brain won't do it any good."

Rhodes' research as part of the NeuroTech group seeks to find the causal mechanisms that underlie motivational behaviors. One of his research projects was among the first to find that motivation for beneficial behaviors such as exercise and motivation for detrimental behaviors like alcoholism and drug addiction could have the same neurological bases.

"You won’t find Nemo swimming around in Justin Rhodes’s new marine biology laboratory at the Beckman Institute, but you will find 74 of his real-life clownfish brethren in one of the most unique settings for neuroscience research in the world."

"Some of the hard work of fighting addiction to heroin or cocaine is in learning not to use the drug. And if drug use inhibits the generation of new neurons that facilitate learning, the problem becomes a vicious circle. Now, research presented at this week’s annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington DC shows that increasing the brain’s ability to generate new neurons decreases drug-seeking behaviours in rodents. The implication is that therapies that boost neurogenesis may one day help drug addicts on the long road to recovery."

"Could exercise have beneficial effects for treating drug addiction, such as have been shown for disease prevention and improving cognitive health? Researchers from the laboratory of Justin Rhodes say the answer is, potentially yes, but that answer is dependent upon when the exercise takes place."

"Statistically, people who exercise are much less likely than inactive people to abuse drugs or alcohol. But can exercise help curb addictions? Some research shows that exercise may stimulate reward centers in the brain, helping to ease cravings for drugs or other substances. But according to an eye-opening new study of cocaine-addicted mice, dedicated exercise may in some cases make it even harder to break an addiction."

"For more than a decade, neuroscientists and physiologists have been gathering evidence of the beneficial relationship between exercise and brainpower. But the newest findings make it clear that this isn’t just a relationship; it is the relationship. Using sophisticated technologies to examine the workings of individual neurons — and the makeup of brain matter itself — scientists in just the past few months have discovered that exercise appears to build a brain that resists physical shrinkage and enhance cognitive flexibility. Exercise, the latest neuroscience suggests, does more to bolster thinking than thinking does."

"You won’t find Nemo swimming around in Justin Rhodes’s new marine biology laboratory at the Beckman Institute, but you will find 74 of his real-life clownfish brethren in one of the most unique settings for neuroscience research in the world."

"Clownfish burst onto the public scene nearly a decade ago with Disney-PIXAR's now classic animated film "Finding Nemo." Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film left out a very important part of the clownfish story -- that clownfish can actually change their sex in response to their social environment."

"Some stereotypes are based on nothing, but studies have verified one generalization that we encounter in our daily lives: men tend to be better navigators than women. Though the phenomenon appears in a range of species, researchers don’t understand why it’s happening. Some guess that this male navigational advantage is adaptive—that men who could navigate wound up having more offspring than those who stuck close to home or got lost. But it turns out that is not the case, according to a new study published in The Quarterly Review of Biology."

What is a Spandrel? Explaining Evolutionary Adaptations and Side Effects

"Neuroscientist and evolutionary biologist Justin Rhodes explains the difference between traits that are the result of evolutionary adaptation and others that are genetic spillovers. Winner of a Regional Emmy!"

"After being cooped up inside all day, your afternoon stroll may leave you feeling clearheaded. This sensation is not just in your mind. A growing body of evidence suggests we think and learn better when we walk or do another form of exercise. The reason for this phenomenon, however, is not completely understood."

Finding Nemo Lied To Your Kids, and They Will Do It Again in the Sequel: Finding Dory!

"The Disney film, Finding Nemo, lied to your kids! Disney would simply argue that they altered reality to create a more entertaining storyline, but read below for the true story, and you tell me which you think is a more entertaining."

"This steamy, hidden-camera sex tape gets you up-close and personal with clownfish and shows you what they get up to when the lights go out. This video features a fun and fact-filled display of the secret sex life of the clown anemonefish... caught in the act and in full HD. The circle of life has never been so sexy!"

"Jennifer Merritt’s mind was racing as she prepared to graduate last fall. She was working part-time in the lab of Professor Justin Rhodes and trying to maintain high grades. She was working hard to graduate in December, a semester early. She was hoping her research experience would be an asset when she began applying to jobs and graduate programs."

"The scientific evidence is now clear. If you want to keep your mind sharp as you age, you need to keep physically active. The explanation has to do with the broad-reaching effects of exercise on the chemistry, physiology and structure of the brain."

"Remember the popular Disney movie Finding Nemo? Well, if the movie were true to biology, then after Coral (Nemo's mom) was eaten by the barracuda, Marlin (Nemo's dad) would have changed sex into a female, and then she may have even had incestuous relations with Nemo. Not exactly Disney material."

"In 2009, neurophysiologist Johanna Meijer set up an unusual experiment in her backyard. In an ivy-tangled corner of her garden, she and her colleagues at Leiden University in the Netherlands placed a rodent running wheel inside an open cage and trained a motion-detecting infrared camera on the scene. Then they put out a dish of food pellets and chocolate crumbs to attract animals to the wheel and waited."

"Prior to the several-month stay in their respective cages, the animals completed a series of cognitive tests and were injected with a substance that would reveal changes to the structures of their brains. At the conclusion of their cage time, they were given the same battery of tests and their brain tissues were examined. Mice that had stayed busy as they scurried from one stimulating activity to the next in the enrichment cages had not improved their brains any more than the mice that had languished in dull cages."

"As you no doubt have realized, fructose consumption has increased astronomically in recent years, because it is the dominant sugar added to processed foods and drinks, mostly in the form of high-fructose corn syrup."

"It is hard to say exactly why some people are motivated to exercise more, or more often, than other. But a University of Illinois researcher has found some clues about changes in the brain might affect motivation."

"Tomorrow, thousands of runners will line up in Springfield to run 13.1 or 26.2 miles and throughout the state they’ll keep doing so throughout the month. To many of us even 6 miles seems crazy, so why do people run? We talked with Justin Rhodes, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois who studies why animals, humans included, run."

Orgasms Are Like Nipples, They Are Functional In One Sex And Inherited In The Other

"Females have plenty of orgasms. But, the female orgasm usually involves clitoral stimulation, and unfortunately, the clitoris is just not in the right place for most sexual positions involving penile vaginal penetration. The clitoris is homologous to the penis (i.e., same genes and developmental pathways lead to both organs), so it is not surprising that clitoral stimulation leads to orgasm. The question then becomes: why does orgasm in females occur if it is not necessary for reproduction?"